Jafar (Disney)
Jafar is the main antagonist of Disney's 31st full-length animated feature film Aladdin, its first sequel The Return of Jafar, and the 2002 direct-to-video film Mickey's House of Villains. He is Aladdin's arch-nemesis and Iago's former owner and boss. He was voiced by Jonathan Freeman in all of his appearances. Appearance Jafar's physical appearance is similar to that of Ming the Merciless: He is tall, thin, and almost always depicted in a flowing robe of black, maroon, red, and other moody colors. In the first Aladdin film, he was shown to be bald underneath his hat. Jafar carried a cobra-head staff, which he used for his sorcery. Biography ''Aladdin'' Jafar is introduced as the sinister Royal Vizier to Agrabah's Sultan who desires power over Agrabah. He is the second most powerful authority in Agrabah, answering only to the Sultan. He is always accompanied by his sarcastic, devious pet parrot, Iago. Whilst presenting a charming and respectable exterior to the Sultan and the people of Agrabah, he secretly holds everyone around him in contempt and manipulates the Sultan by means of hypnotizing him with a magical snake-headed staff, which he always carries on his person. Even regarding his desire to marry Jasmine afterwards, it was solely so he could gain control of the throne and intended to kill her soon thereafter—though he later reneges on this in an attempt to make her his queen consort. He's traveled widely and amassed a wide knowledge of magical artifacts and legends. Until he uses Genie's powers to become a sorcerer, however, his magical abilities are limited to the use of such artifacts as he's collected, and his prowess as an accomplished alchemist. He also had some contacts within the Agrabah underworld, including the thief Gazeem, whom he hired to find the Scarab half. He eventually managed gain it after some delays, although he was unable to retrieve the lamp after further delays that resulted in Gazeem's death, relating to a Diamond in the Rough. Undeterred, he returns to Agrabah, and upon learning from the Sultan that Jasmine doesn't wish to marry a prince, offered to help in exchange for the Sultan's familial sapphire ring, with hypnosis being involved. After departing, however, he makes it clear to Iago that he intends to usurp the Sultan's authority. He later used the Sultan's ring to uncover the diamond in the rough at his laboratory, eventually identifying the individual necessary to access the Cave of Wonders: Aladdin. He then had the royal guards arrest Aladdin as a subtle means of recruiting him, although he did not expect Jasmine to have accompanied him (she had escaped from the palace earlier to avoid having to find another Prince at her doorstep). Nonetheless, after being confronted by Jasmine, he lied about having executed Aladdin. With Jasmine out of the way of his plans, he then made his way to the dungeons and disguised himself as an old prisoner, offering to help Aladdin escape from the dungeons in exchange for aiding him in retrieving the lamp from the Cave of Wonders. After accepting the deal, they then made their way to the cave. After Aladdin was accepted in to retrieve the lamp, Jafar then promised the former's reward to be given upon his return. Once Aladdin returns with the lamp, Jafar after retrieving it, attempted to give Aladdin his "reward" (the eternal reward of death), but Abu bit him in the wrist. Unbeknownst to him until after the cave collapsed, Abu also stole the lamp from him before he bit him. Jafar then screamed in failure and frustration at the loss of the lamp. Afterwards, Jafar ended up reprimanded by the Sultan for executing a prisoner without his consultation (Jasmine had informed him earlier of Jafar's supposed execution of Aladdin), with Jafar swearing that it won't happen again. Although Sultan forgave Jafar instantly, Jasmine was still furious with him, and vowed to "get rid of him" once she eventually rises up as queen. The furious Jafar takes her threats to heart, fuming over the fact that not only has he lost the lamp, but is also in danger of losing his head should he fail to somehow take control of Agrabah. As he contemplates on the matter, Iago suddenly concocts a new plot, advising Jafar to take advantage of Jasmine's enforced marriage by marrying her, himself. Once he is legally dubbed sultan as a result, he can dispose of his wife and her father, ridding himself of his enemies and maintaining complete power. Jafar is enticed by the idea, and carries it through by using a fake provision in the law that would allow a royal vizier to marry a princess, as a means to "solve" the Sultan's problems of finding a suitor for Jasmine. The Sultan, for a number of reasons, is not keen on the idea, forcing Jafar to result to hypnosis. Before the power of the snake staff can take full effect, the Sultan is freed from his trance by the sounds of fanfare entering the city, which is revealed to belong to the flashy introductory parade of visiting suitor, Prince Ali. Jafar immediately sees Prince Ali as a rival for Jasmime's hand in marriage, and plots to secretly have him killed. That night, he orders the guards to kidnap Ali and ensure he's never found. When he returns to the palace, Jafar successfully hypnotizes the Sultan, forcing him to abide the marriage between the former and Jasmine. Jasmine refuses, declaring that she chooses Prince Ali, but Jafar explains that "Prince Ali left", until the prince suddenly reveals himself to be alive, and accuses Jafar of attempted murder. Jafar tries to cover his crimes by hypnotizing the Sultan into believing the former's claims, only to accidentally reveal the power held by his staff, which Ali destroys. The Sultan is freed, and Ali reveals Jafar's treachery. The furious Sultan tried to have the guards arrest Jafar, though he managed to escape with a smoke bomb, although not before glancing the lamp inside Ali's turban, eventually able to deduce Ali's true identity. He then revealed this to Iago, and ordered him to steal the lamp from Aladdin, which he succeeded in the following day. Jafar, observing the marriage announcement from his lab, then unleashed the Genie, making him the new master of the lamp, declaring his wish to become the sultan of Agrabah. A hostile take over commences, with a demonized Genie destructively placing Agrabah's palace on a mountain top, with Jafar simultaneously declaring himself sultan to Jasmine and her father. After not receiving the respect he desired from the two royals, Jafar wishes to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world, in order to strike fear into them, instead. When Ali tries to intervene, Jafar exposes the prince by revealing his true identity to be Aladdin to Jasmine as a form of humiliation, before banishing him, Abu, and the carpet to the Arctic to freeze to death. Some time later, in a dystopian Agrabah, Jafar spends time torturing the former sultan, until directing his attention to Jasmine, whom he wishes to become his queen, after a first attempt to have her betroth to him willingly had failed. Although Genie claimed that Genies can't make people fall in love, Jasmine seeming made the wish come true, seductively flirting with Jafar as if madly lustful towards him. Too caught up in his own pleasure to realize this is a ruse, Jafar eventually discovers Aladdin trying to retrieve the lamp, merely inches away from the object at that point. Before the street rat can defeat him, Jafar fought against Aladdin with all of his powers, eliminating his aids (Jasmine, Abu, and Carpet) and reclaiming the lamp. When called a "cowardly snake" afraid to fight for himself by Aladdin, Jafar responds by transforming himself into a giant cobra, and instantly attacks. Though Aladdin proves to be a valiant warrior, Jafar eventually overwhelms him by trapping the street rat within his coils. Threatening to crush him to death, Jafar taunts Aladdin's helplessness, though the latter retorts by claiming Jafar isn't as powerful as he wishes to believe, claiming the Genie is still the most powerful being in the universe as he gave Jafar his power in the first place. Realizing what Aladdin says is true, Jafar's lust for power prompts him to use his final wish to become an all-powerful genie. Genie reluctantly grants the wish, and Jafar is turned into a monstrous genie with blood-red skin—subsequently seizing control of the cosmos and declaring himself ruler of the universe. However, Aladdin notifies Jafar that the power of a genie comes with a price, revealing that the evil genie is now equipped with his own black lamp prison, which quickly begins to suck him inside. Jafar tries to escape by grabbing onto Iago's tail feathers, but to no avail, merely dragging the panicked Iago to imprisonment alongside him. Foiled and trapped by his own greed, Jafar's magic over Agrabah and its inhabitants are undone, and peace is restored within the kingdom. Jafar's lamp is left in Aladdin's possession, who hands it over to Genie, who sends the lamp flying to the Cave of Wonders, where the bickering Jafar and Iago would be forced to remain, as prisoners, for at least 10,000 years. The Return of Jafar After Iago escapes the lamp, Jafar demeands he release him, but Iago refused as he has enough of Jafar's behavior and instead leaves him. Jafar was later released from his lamp by Abis Mal. However, as he was a genie, he was bound by the rules of obedience to his master and thus handicapped by Abis Mal's habitual incompetence. The thief thought that the sorcerer was there to grant his wishes, but all he cared about was returning to Agrabah and revenge. Jafar desired to be free so he could get rid of Aladdin by framing him and then having him executed; however, he needed Mal's cooperation to do this. With the use of trickery, Jafar still asserted his power by tricking Abis Mal into wasting two of his wishes before making him return to Agrabah; Abis Mal willingly went along with Jafar's plans in order to get his own revenge on Aladdin. Once in the palace, the sorcerer revealed himself to Iago and forced him to play along with his evil plans, trying to bring him back as his henchman. The next day, Aladdin and the Sultan departed to have a discussion at a place suggested by Iago. After they left, Jafar confronted the Genie and Abu in the Palace gardens and showed his power, imprisoning the pair. Meanwhile, Aladdin had a talk with the Sultan that earned his acceptance as the future grand vizier. When Aladdin thanked Iago, he was ambushed by Abis Mal and Jafar, the latter disguised as a squad of flying horsemen. The Sultan was kidnapped and Aladdin thrown into the raging river. However, Jafar spared his life in order to exact his revenge in the most painful way possible: By splitting him away from all his loved ones. To this purpose, he left false evidence and masked himself as Jasmine to implicate Aladdin with the alleged murder of the Sultan and Aladdin was thrown into the dungeon to be executed by means of beheading come morning. When Iago chose to try to free Genie so he could save Aladdin, Iago succeeded just in time and the Genie freed the others. Once free, Aladdin volunteered to attempt to stop Jafar, whom he decided was too dangerous to be left alive. Genie told Aladdin that in order to kill Jafar, his lamp must be destroyed before Abis Mal wished him free. During the final fight, all of the heroes were either knocked out or unavailable. It looked like Jafar was going to finally get rid of Aladdin and the others. However, Iago betrayed him and tried to attack Jafar in Aladdin's defense. The sorcerer managed to hit Iago and nearly killed him, but the bird managed to muster up enough strength to kick his former master's lamp into the lava, destroying the lamp and killing Jafar. Aladdin and the King of Thieves Jafar doesn't physically appear in the film as he was already dead, but he is mentioned once by Genie during the musical number There's a Party Here In Agrabah, where Genie is wearing a mask resembling Jafar's face as the palace guards are sleeping before the wedding. In Jafar's absence, Sa'Luk takes over as the villain of the film. ''Hercules and the Arabian Night'' In Hercules and the Arabian Night, Jafar arrives in the Underworld as a ghost and is temporarily revived by Hades, Lord of the Dead and Hercules' arch-nemesis, by creating a staff that kept Jafar alive, though he is no longer a genie. Jafar and Hades try to beat the heroes but they lose and Jafar is killed once again after his new staff was destroyed by Hercules and he became a ghost again. Since he was in the River Styx when his staff was destroyed, the spirits of the dead drag his spirit into the River, ending Jafar's threat for now. ''Aladdin: Nasira's Revenge'' Jafar returned in Nasira's Revenge ''as the Bigger Bad/secondary antagonist, where he is revealed to be the fraternal twin brother of the evil sorceress Nasira, who planned to collect all of the 4 magical artifacts and bring Jafar back to life. When Nasira first summoned Jafar's spirit and informs him of her plan, Jafar warns Nasira to be cautious of Aladdin as he underestimated his cleverness and paid the price for it. At the end of the game, Aladdin faced off against Jafar's ghost and Nasira at the heart of her lair. Jafar's giant head will cause boulders to come flying at Aladdin, and after Nasira is defeated, he attempted one final attack against Aladdin before being defeated, probably for good. Videogame appearances Jafar appeared as the main villain of the 1993 video game adaptations ''Disney's Aladdin for the Mega Drive developed by Virgin Interactive's studio of Virgin Games USA and published by Sega. Jafar appears as both the main villain and the final boss of the 1995 game Disney's Aladdin developed for the SNES and published by Capcom separately from Virgin's version, since Capcom still held Disney licensing rights for Nintendo consoles at the time of the film's release. Jafar made an appearance as both the final boss and the main antagonist of Disney's Aladdin developed by SIMS and published by Sega, and released in 1994 for the Sega Game Gear worldwide and for the Sega Master System in Europe. ''Kingdom Hearts'' franchise ''Kingdom Hearts'' Jafar also appeared as a boss in Kingdom Hearts. He served as one of the main villains in Maleficent's team and is her second in command. Jafar takes over Agrabah and manages to kidnap one of the princess. He is defeated by Sora and his allies. Jafar then transformed into a genie and fought again but was defeated. ''Chain of Memories'' Jafar was an antagonist in Chain of Memories and was fought in the memory Agrabah. ''Kingdom Hearts II'' Jafar was an antagonist in Kingdom Hearts II and the semi-final Disney boss. He was fought twice, once in mirage form and again in genie form. Jafar managed to take over Agrabah for a short time and planned to make Princess Jasmine his queen before being destroyed for good by Sora. ''Coded'' Jafar invaded the digital realms along with Pete and Maleficent, he uses a Lamp to cast a time stop spell over Agrabah and takes it over. He later fights Sora twice and is defeated. ''Kingdom Hearts Manga'' Jafar also appears in the manga series-adapted by Shiro Amano-along with other Disney villains like in the game-except that Clayton and Oogie Boogie were not in it. In the U.S the manga, after Kingdom Hearts 2 Volume 2 discontinued and Jafar and the others did not show for a while. The last appearance Jafar made was in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories Volume 1. ''Kingdom Keepers'' The evil sorcerer was also in the Disney and Hyperion novel series, Kingdom Keepers. He was also an Overtaker, but he did not join Chernabog, Maleficent, Frollo, Evil Queen, Cruella and the others to take over the Disney parks at first. Like Shan Yu, he wanted the Kingdom Keepers' magic for himself. But after being tricked by one of the Kingdom Keepers, he later joins the other villains. ''Kilala Princess'' Manga In the manga, Jafar is one of the Disney villains that were supporting the main manga villain, Valdou-the others, Maleficent, Grimhilde, Ursula, Lady Tremaine, Gaston and their henchmen/women. Jafar was still a vizier like he was in the movie Aladdin. Not much changed with him and his scenes, except for when he saw the Sultan giving Kilala the diamond that he wanted, he was never too pleased, and when Iago and him talked about Kilala, Rei, and Sylphy intruding Agrabah and hanging out with Aladdin and Jasmine. Both Jafar and Iago were somewhat allies with the android Valdou. Live-action appearance Quotes Trivia *Jafar, like his twin sister Nasira, also has a secret Lair of his own in the first Aladdin film. *Jafar is the male equivalent of Maleficent. They are both powerful spellcasters, have bird sidekicks, try to kill the heroes by transforming into giant reptilian monsters, carry staffs which they primarily use to channel their magic and, of course, are very evil. *In the first movie, Jafar is similar to Ben Yusuf, the main villain from Spanish animated movie El Cid: The Legend: Both characters kidnaps to protagonist's love interest and forces her to be his slave. *Jafar is also similar to Queen Grimhilde from Snow White. Both will do what ever it takes to succeed at their goal. They also disguise as an elderly person to trick the protagonist to gain the upper hand. Both have birds as their side kicks. *Jafar is one of 5 male villains to shape shift into a second form. the others being Judge Doom, Oogie Boogie, and Pain and Panic. Jafar is also the only Disney Villain to have nine other forms (Old Man, Sultan, Sorcerer, Snake, Genie, Ghost, an old granny, an army of thieves with winged horses, disguised as Jasmine). *Part of his design, motive, and his position in Aladdin could have been inspired by ZigZag from The Thief and the Cobbler. *In House of Mouse, episode House of Magic, Jafar and Iago use the famous magic spell Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo to return the House of Mouse after Daisy Duck magically causes it to vanish, and were tricked by Mickey to receive "Agrabah" as a reward for their good deeds. *Despite being a villain, he is the main protagonist of StarKid Productions' parody musical Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier. *Jafar is the second main villain of a Disney Princess movie not to die in his first appearance after Lady Tremaine, as well the only main Disney animated villain movie to survive in the canon and to die in the sequel. * Jafar also appeared in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed In at the House of Mouse as one of the Disney Villains celebrating Christmas and is even shown in the music song, The Best Christmas of All as one of its notable singers, singing it with his fellow villains alongside with many Disney heroes. Also, Jafar, alongside with Iago (as well as his enemies Genie, Carpet, Abu, and all Disney characters), are all insulted when Donald Duck refuses to change his un-Christmas mood. *In the films, Jafar is the main and most recurring antagonist, except for the third film, where he is replaced by a new main villain. *Jafar is similar to Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. Both of them were the main antagonists in the first two movies in their respective trilogies but in the third film, a new villain replaces them and become the new main villain. *His My Life as a Teenage Robot counterpart is Dr. Locus because they both have side characters that turned good (Jafar has Iago, Locus had Melody), trap heroines, have handy objects (Jafar has a staff, Locus has a remote control), and got trapped in metal objects. (Jafar was sucked into a magic lamp, while Dr. Locus was eaten by a robot snake with a set of teeth for a head.) *In 2014, when Aladdin was turned into a Broadway musical, Jonathan Freeman, who had voiced Jafar in his every appearance, returned to play the character onstage. *Tim Curry, Kelsey Grammer, John Hurt, Christopher Lloyd and Ian McKellen were considered for the role of Jafar. Tim Curry, Kelsey Grammer and Christopher Lloyd have previously played villains before they were considered for the role: Tim Curry played Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Wadsworth, Lord of Darkness and Pennywise the Clown. Kelsey Grammer played Sideshow Bob and Christopher Lloyd played Judge Doom. *Jafar is one of the few Disney villains to become primary members of the Disney Villains franchise, the others being Maleficent, Queen Grimhilde, Cruella De Vil, Ursula, Captain James Hook, Hades, Scar, Queen of Hearts, Dr. Facilier and Chernabog. 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